Merkel in surprise visit to Afghanistan

Merkel in surprise visit to Afghanistan
By Chris Bryant in Berlin
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 6 2009 11:06 | Last updated: April 6 2009 11:06
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/165a3044-228c-11de-9c99-00144feabdc0,s01=1.html


Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Afghanistan on Monday on a surprise visit to meet German troops stationed in the north of the country.

Her visit comes less than 48 hours after the conclusion of the Nato summit during which the alliance faced pressure from US president Barack Obama to increase its efforts on bringing security to Afghanistan.

The trip also follows a telephone conversation between Ms Merkel and Hamid Karzai, Afghan president, on Sunday when the chancellor is thought to have expressed her opposition to a new Afghan law curtailing the rights of Shia women.

The Nato summit concluded on Saturday with pledges of “up to 5000 extra troops” from countries including the UK, Spain and Italy.

This falls well short of the 21,000 reinforcements planned by the US, which experts warn could lead to waning European influence over the mission.

“Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone,” Mr Obama warned before the meeting.

Germany recently sent another 600 troops to Afghanistan bringing to 4,100 its contribution to the International Security Assistance Force, the third-biggest contingent after the US and UK.

Europe’s biggest economy has however faced criticism for hiding behind national caveats that prevent its forces taking part in aggressive missions and from being deployed in the more dangerous south.

German officials welcome the new US strategic concept for Afghanistan, which emphasises the need for a “comprehensive approach” linking security and development. The US also wants its allies to send more police and military trainers, where Germany feels it is helping more than most.

Nevertheless, following talks with Ms Merkel in Baden-Baden on Friday, Mr Obama said he was “confident that Germany will be stepping up to the plate and working to get the job done.”

Ms Merkel told parliament last month that Afghanistan remained Nato’s “biggest test”. “For me our aims remains clear, against which our success will be measured, that Afghanistan no longer poses a terrorist threat to our security”.

However, a poll published last week found that two-thirds of the German public want their troops to return home immediately, with only a third in favour of sustaining the mission.

Ms Merkel has only made one previous visit to the country, in 2007. A parliamentary mandate was in October extended for another 14 months, in part to prevent the issue of deploying troops becoming an issue in the run-up to a general election in September.